Shreveport Police were called to Stray Cats Bar at 222
Travis in Downtown Shreveport just after 2 a.m. Saturday morning. After
arriving at the night club police called for backup. Police say Eric
Felland, 29, was arrested for resisting arrest and public intoxication.
Six others were arrested for interfering with police including actor
Josh Brolin, 40. Brolin is in town playing George W. Bush in the movie
"W" directed by Oliver Stone. Jeffery Wright, 43, was also arrested.
Wright is playing Colin Powell in the film.

July 07, 2008

July 06, 2008

The Oxford American is back and it's back with a vengeance. Their Best of South issue just hit newsstands, and it features a new short story that I wrote about Shreveport and the mythological redheaded flying children who took over the town in the 80s. The cover girl photo by Saverio Truglia could actually be one of the characters from the story. In fact, this short story is one of the favorite things that I've ever written. I particularly love the illustration that Ryan Heshka did of the main character and his abandoned babies. But if promiscuous super heroes and flying babies aren't your thing, there's Roy Blount, Jr, Brad Land Pia Ehrhardt, and Louisiana artist Bryan LeBoeuf to delight and inspire you with their various talents. But just look at this illustration for my story The Pentecostal Home for Flying Children and tell me you don't need a subscription to this great magazine.

NPR.org,July 3, 2008 ·
Quake in fear, puny humans! Spandex-clad superbeings have engineered a
mass escape. From big screens and billboards, to bus ads and even
bookshelves: this summer, nowhere is safe from superheroes.

Avengers, Assemble! Thematically!

Who Can Save Us Now? Brand New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories, edited by Owen King and John McNally, paperback, 320 pages

Superhero
tropes turn up in every short story of this new anthology, but its 22
authors eschew the tidy duality of hero/villain to stake out moral
territory where the lines between good guys and bad fade to obscurity.
As a result, Who Will Save Us Now? is a surprisingly varied read, by turns funny, creepy, melancholic and joyous.

Editors
Owen King and John McNally organize the collection around timeworn
conventions — the origin story, the secret identity, etc. The strongest
tales focus on supporting characters long denied an inner voice: the
plucky girl reporter, the faithful butler, the sidekick — even the
townsfolk who spend their days ducking the flying rubble of
superbrawls. A standout, Will Clarke's "The Pentecostal Home for Flying
Children," about a town under siege by the teenage offspring of an
alien superhero, feels at once uncanny and utterly, hauntingly real.